Ricky Stenhouse Jr. became the Nationwide Series champion long before the checkered flag dropped Saturday at the championship finale. Stenhouse clinched the title after 30 laps in the Ford 300 when six cars officially dropped out of the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Stenhouse started the race with a comfortable 41-point lead over Elliott Sadler. They were the only drivers still eligible for the title. In order to clinch his first NASCAR Nationwide Series championship, Stenhouse needed to finish 37th or better. The driver of the No. 6 Blackwell Angus Ford did much better than that in the final finishing order with a second place finish in the 200-lap race.
Stenhouse became the third driver in NASCAR Nationwide Series to win the championship a year after winning the Sunoco Rookie of the Year.
Ford 300 pole-sitter Brad Keselowski held off Stenhouse and Carl Edwards to pick up the win Saturday night. Keselowski notched up his fifth win of the year and 17th of his career by pulling away on the last restart. With the third place finish, Edwards clinched the owners’ title for the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Denny Hamlin finished fifth in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing car to lose the owner’s title to Jack Roush.
“It’s been an up and down year in Cup and on the Nationwide side,” said Keselowski. “Carl [Edwards] put up a good fight but we were fortunate enough to come out on top.”
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 2 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 3 60 Carl Edwards Ford 4 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 5 18 Denny Hamlin Toyota 6 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 7 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 8 88 Aric Almirola Chevrolet 9 11 Brian Scott Toyota 10 20 Joey Logano Toyota 11 16 Trevor Bayne Ford 12 38 Jason Leffler Chevrolet 13 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 14 32 James Buescher Chevrolet 15 70 David Stremme Chevrolet 16 97 Joe Nemechek Toyota 17 19 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 18 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 19 62 Michael Annett Toyota 20 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 21 15 Timmy Hill * Ford 22 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet 23 81 Blake Koch * Chevrolet 24 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. Chevrolet 25 182 Reed Sorenson Dodge 26 87 Kevin Conway Toyota 27 104 Casey Roderick Ford 28 40 T.J. Duke Chevrolet 29 14 Eric McClure Chevrolet 30 28 Derrike Cope Dodge 31 141 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet 32 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 33 9 Kenny Wallace Toyota 34 66 Steve Wallace Toyota 35 52 Kevin Lepage Chevrolet 36 167 Andrew Ranger Ford 37 103 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 38 146 Chase Miller Chevrolet 39 147 Josh Wise Chevrolet 40 171 Matthew Carter Chevrolet 41 142 Scott Speed Chevrolet 42 39 Fain Skinner Ford 43 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet
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